Water & Wastewater Treatment

www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | NOVEMBER 2014 | 37 In the know Skilling up: Health and safety H ealth and safety has always been a top priority for Thames Water. But with a new multi- billion pound programme of work ahead, we have made a step change to our commitment in this area by insisting all our suppliers work to the highest possible health and safety standards. Thames Water now requires all its suppliers to be registered with UVDB – a community for UK utility buyers, operated by global supply chain risk management specialist Achilles – and to have passed Achilles' tough Verify health and safety audit. To pass a Verify audit, suppliers are assessed annually against rigorous health and safety standards for both the quality of their management systems and their working practices on the ground. The audit is conducted by highly trained Achilles staff. Previously, we at Thames Water conducted our own supplier assessments, based on a desktop exercise, with on-site follow-up where necessary. While these were thorough, they took place on a three-year cycle rather than annually as with Verify, and were prioritised according to how much we spent with the supplier; the greater the spend, the closer the health and safety scrutiny. But high value contracts do not necessarily carry the greatest risk; in fact, some smaller suppliers that have not adequately embedded good health and safety practices into their operations can pose significant problems. Categorising risk Under the new Verify system, Thames has categorised all supply activities into groupings according to the health and safety risk they carry: negligible, Safety in numbers One year a er mandating probing health and safety audits for all of its suppliers, Thames Water has seen contractor reportable injuries fall by half low, medium or high. The higher the risk, the greater the depth of the audit (negligible risk suppliers – for instance, providers of stationery – are excluded from the process). Potential new suppliers – whether for large contracts that exceed EU procurement value thresholds, or for smaller scale work – will only be considered by Thames if they are registered with UVDB and have undergone a Verify check. As for our existing suppliers, we are referring them to Achilles for a Verify audit on a rolling programme when their triennial internal audit would have been due. So all existing suppliers, as well as all new suppliers, will have been rigorously checked within three years of the new system starting. Thames Water's decision to insist on Achilles accreditation for its supply chain is the latest development in a 10-year health and safety improvement strategy which kicked off four years ago in 2010. This is a corporate priority and has been driven hard through the company from our chief executive down. Improvements adopted to date include centralising procurement approvals through the Reading head office and the 'Three Zeros' strategy: to prioritise, promote and work towards zero incidents and zero harm, through zero compromise. Thames' insistence on UVDB and Verify prioritises improvement on health and safety, making sure the suppliers who are on board with us are committed to health and safety in the way that we are. Step change in information Around 100 Thames Water suppliers (new and existing) have been through Gareth Cale MasTER daTa aNd pROcuREMENT sup- pOrT Team lead, ThaMEs WaTER THameS WaTer and amP6 Under Ofwat's dra determination for PR14 (a final determination will be issued on 12 December), thames Water will invest combined capital and operating expenditure of around £7 billion between 2015 and 2020. this comprises £3.4 billion for wholesale water investment and £3.7 billion for wholesale wastewater investment. Key outcomes include: 10 per cent leakage reduction by 2020 supported by the replacement of 880km of mains; reduction of supply interruptions; the installation of 900,000 smart meters; protecting 1,800 properties from internal sewer flooding; cutting pollution incidents; reducing odour risk for 6,600 homes; and supplying one- third of company power needs from home-grown renewables. At least half of Thames Water's AMP6 programme will be delivered by its delivery joint venture eight2O. This is an alliance of eight powerful firms: Thames Water; two large design and build joint ventures – CVA (Costain, Veolia, Atkins) and SMB (Skanska, MWH, Balfour Beatty); technology company IBM; and a programme manager, also MWH. Achilles will be Verify- qualifying tier 2, 3 and 4 subcontractors and is working with eight2O to set up a portal for all the alliance partners to have visibility and agreed lines of reporting on subcontractor health and safety standards. KeIth taylor hEalTh & safETy manager, sysTems and prOcesses, ThaMEs WaTER "For suppliers, attaining UVdB and Verify accreditation will open doors to work with other companies in the utility sector"

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